Architecture

Showcase K

Text14

Peter Scheier started taking architectural photographs in the mid-1940s, working with modern architects based in São Paulo, such as Rino Levi, Lina Bo Bardi, Oswaldo Bratke, Bernard Rudofsky, Lucjan Korngold, Álvaro Vital Brazil, Jacques Pilon and Gregori Warchavchik, and with specialized magazines such as Acrópole and Habitat. 

His images followed the standards established for architectural photography, correcting the perspective, as well as focusing on the materials chosen and their impact on the luminosity of the spaces. They were published in important publications on modern Brazilian architecture, such as the catalog for the exhibition Brazil Builds at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1943 and the book Modern Architecture in Brazil by the architect Henrique Mindlin, published in 1956.

 

Text 15

The book Brasília vive! [Brasilia Lives!], published in 1961 by Livraria Kosmos Editora includes photos taken by Scheier during his visits to the city in 1958 and in 1960, when he photographed the inauguration of the new capital. As well as highlighting the formal aspects of Oscar Niemeyer’s architecture, the book aimed to convince the public that it would be possible to live in a city built from scratch, far from Brazil’s other cities. In the political debates of the time, one of the arguments against Brasilia was that federal public servants would not move to a ‘ghost city’. Scheier’s photos contradict this view, focusing on the city’s inhabitants in the busy commercial areas, public servants working in the new buildings, and children going to school. The monumental architecture of the civic center is seen through reflections, the glass-covered frontages and shutters, framed in multiple layers, giving a kaleidoscopic face to the new capital.

 

Showcase K – Captions

K1

Restaurant of the Ipiranga Cinema and Hotel Excelsior, design by Rino Levi, São Paulo, 1941 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

K2

Ipiranga Cinema, Rino Levi, design by Rino Levi, São Paulo, 1941 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

K3

Restaurant of the Ipiranga Cinema and Hotel Excelsior, design by Rino Levi, São Paulo, 1941 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

K4

Entrance to the Ipiranga Cinema and the Hotel Excelsior, design by Rino Levi, São Paulo, 1941 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. PRINTED IN 2019.

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION 

 

K5

“Modern Homes”. Brasil Moderno, Rio de Janeiro, v. II, 1952. 

Photos by Peter Scheier. 

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION 

 

K6

Instituto Superior de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras “Sedes Sapientiae” [Higher Institute of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters Sedes Sapientiae], design by Rino Levi, São Paulo, 1941 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

K7

Edifício Prudência, design by Rino Levi, Higienópolis Avenue, São Paulo, 1944 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

K8

Side facade of the Banco Paulista do Comércio S.A. building, design by Rino Levi, São Paulo, 1947 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

K9

Home of Milton Gupir, design by Rino Levi, São Paulo, 1951 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION 

 

K10

“Brasilia: Eine Hauptstadt wächst aus dem Nichts empor” [Brasília: A Capital City Grows from Nothing]. Schweizer Illustrierte Zeitung, 8.25.1958, pp. 5-7. 

Photos by Peter Scheier. 

LUCAS LENCI COLLECTION 

 

K11

Peter Scheier. Brasília vive! [Brasília Lives!]. Rio de Janeiro/ São Paulo/Porto Alegre: Livraria Kosmos Editora, 1960. 

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION 

 

Arquitetura

Showcase L

Text 16

Between the 1940s and 60s, Peter Scheier photographed a number of the buildings designed by the architect Lina Bo Bardi. His work includes these emblematic photographs of two of the architect’s most important works: the Casa de Vidro [Glass House] in São Paulo’s Morumbi district, where she lived, and the new MASP building on Paulista Avenue, while still under construction.

Scheier’s relationship with Lina Bo Bardi and her husband, the Italian gallerist and art critic Pietro Maria Bardi, then Director of MASP, began in the 1940s, when Scheier started photographing the events organized by the museum. During the same period, he also photographed works by the Studio de Arte Palma, a design studio, and Móveis Pau Brasil Ltda., a furniture manufacturer, both of which were established in 1948 by the Bardis, in partnership with the Italian architect Giancarlo Palanti.

 

Showcase L – Captions

L1

Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) under Construction, design by Lina Bo Bardi, Paulista Avenue, São Paulo, 1966 

DIGITAL INKJET PRINT ON COTTON PAPER. PRINTED IN 2019.

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION 

 

L2

Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) under Construction, design by Lina Bo Bardi, Paulista Avenue, São Paulo, 1966 

DIGITAL INKJET PRINT ON COTTON PAPER. PRINTED IN 2019.

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION 

 

L3

Home of Valéria Piacentini Cirell, design by Lina Bo Bardi, Morumbi, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

INSTITUTO BARDI/CASA DE VIDRO 

 

L4

Prato de Ouro Restaurant, design by Lina Bo Bardi, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

INSTITUTO BARDI/CASA DE VIDRO 

 

L5

Home of Valéria Piacentini Cirell, design by Lina Bo Bardi, Morumbi, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

INSTITUTO BARDI/CASA DE VIDRO 

 

L6

Casa de Vidro [The Glass House], design by Lina Bo Bardi, Morumbi, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

INSTITUTO BARDI/CASA DE VIDRO 

 

L7

Henrique E. Mindlin. Modern Architecture in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro/Amsterdam: Colibris Editora, 1956. 

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION 

 

L8

Bardi’s Bowl, armchair designed by Lina Bo Bardi for Brasília Palace Hotel, Brasília, 1958 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.

INSTITUTO BARDI/CASA DE VIDRO 

 

L9

Home of Maria Luisa and Oscar Americano, design by Oswaldo Bratke, Morumbi, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT.

 LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

L10

Home of Antonio da Silva Prado Neto, design by Gregori Warchavchik, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

L11

Home of Maria Luisa and Oscar Americano, design by Oswaldo Bratke, Morumbi, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

L12

Home of Maria Luisa and Oscar Americano, design by Oswaldo Bratke, Morumbi, São Paulo, undated 

PHOTOGRAPH ON PAPER, GELATIN AND SILVER. VINTAGE PRINT. 

LIBRARY OF FAUUSP 

 

L13

Philip Lippincott Goodwin. Brazil Builds: Architecture New and Old, 1652-1942. New York: Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1943. 

INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES COLLECTION